Self-winding wrist watch



July 2, 1935. BARBEZAT 2,007,105

SELF WINDING WRIST WATCH Filed Aug. 4, 1953 4 2 5 T. 9 9 E! 1 54/ P 5':

a 0 a i h a NVEN R 1 WWW *M Patented July 2, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SELF-WINDING WRIST WATCH Inc., New York, N. Y.

Application August 4, 1933, Serial No. 683,681 In Switzerland July 18, 1933 2 Claims.

This invention relates to self-winding wrist watches of the type in which the movements of the wrist of the bearer of the watch are used to produce the winding of the driving spring.

The object of the invention is to provide a wrist watch of the mentioned type in which the watch movement carrier is: rotatably mounted on a frame member to which the strap surrounding the wrist of the bearer is attached, the movement carrier resting however on the wrist of the bearer, so that owing to movements of the hand of the bearer, the muscles of the wrist will move and act on the movement carrier to impart small movements of rotation thereto relative to the frame member, while a suitable mechanism will be provided to transmit these relative movements between the movement carrier and the frame member to the winding spring. I

Reference will be made to the accompanying drawing showing one form of my invention by way of example.

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a wrist watch embodying the features of my invention.

Figure 2 is a side view of the watch.

Figure 3 is a horizontal section on a larger scale showing the winding mechanism seen from the side of the bridges of the movement.

Figure 4 is a perspective and diagrarmnatic view of the winding mechanism.

In the represented embodiment of the invention, the watch movement I is enclosed in a case 2 of rectangular shape traversed by a shaft 3 on which is rotatably mounted the movement plate 5 by means of two lateral lugs 4. The shaft 3 is carried by a frame constituted by two longitudinal rods 1 connected together by the cross rods 8 to which the wrist strap 9 is connected. Square ends 6 maintain the shaft 3 against rotation in the members '1.

A certain distance above the shaft 3 is disposed a lever IO mounted on a pivot pin H carried by a small bridge l2. One end of the lever l0 forms a fork I3 engaging over a pin M carried by the shaft 3. A pawl I5 is rotatably connected to the other end of the lever 10 and coacts With the teeth of a ratchet wheel l6 which is connected in known manner to the main spring barrel of the watch which is not represented. A spring I! maintains the pawl in engagement with the teeth of the ratchet which is held against return movement by a pawl l8. A spring l9 acts on the lever l0 and tends to maintain it in the position shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

When the watch is attached by means of the strap 9 on the Wrist of the bearer, the watch case 2 has its bottom resting on the muscles of the wrist. Any movement of the hand of the person causes movements of the muscles of the wrist, and certain of these movements cause a pressure to be exerted from the muscles on the watch case which is forced to turn on the shaft 3 relative to the frame '1, 8, attached to the wrist strap, in the direction of the arrow 1 in Figs. 2 and 4. The bridge l2 and the pin H carrying the lever It also take part in this movement of rotation, while the pin 14 being carried by the shaft 3 stays relatively fixed and maintains the forked end of the lever I0 fixed. The opposite end of the lever carrying the pawl l5 effects therefore a movement of rotation in the direction of the arrow f! in Fig. 4 about the pivot pin II and the pawl acts on the ratchet l6 and turns it through a small angle in the direction corresponding to the winding of the main spring. When the hand of the person bearing the watch returns to its normal position, the pressure of the muscles of the wrist on the watch case ceases and the case owing to its weight and to the action of the spring I!) tending to move the lever [0 back into its previous position, returns into its normal position on the wrist, while the pawl l5 slides backwards over the teeth of the ratchet I5 during the movement of the case 2 in a direction opposite to that indicated by the arrow 1.

Stop members 26 carried by the watch case and extending above and below one of the frame members 8 limit the movement of rotation of the watch case relative to the frame. Any known safety connection may be introduced into the winding mechanism in order to avoid overwinding of the main spring.

It will be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise form and details of construction illustrated herein by way of example only, since these may be varied without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a self-winding wrist watch having aspring driven movement, a relatively stationary frame member, a shaft rigidly mounted on said frame member, a movement carrier rotatable about said shaft and adapted to rest on the wrist of the bearer, a wrist strap connected to said frame member for attaching the watch to the wrist of the bearer, an abutment on said shaft, a lever pivotally mounted on the movement carrier and having one end engaged by said abutment, and means for operatively connecting the other end of the lever to the driving spring, whereby upon a movement of the wrist of the bearer, the muscles of the wrist act on said movement carrier to impart a movement of rotation'thereto relative tothe frame member thereby causing a movement of oscillation of said lever.

2. In a self-winding wrist watch having a spring driven movement, a relatively stationary frame member, a relatively movable movement carrier rotatably mounted on said relatively stationary frame member and resting on the wrist a movement of rotation thereto relative to said relatively stationary frame member so as to causea movement of oscillation of said lever.

FRITZ BARBEZAT. 

